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How to stop my daughter from thumbsucking?

My daughter recently turned 3. She is absolutely a quick learner as we never had problems in teaching her proper manners and potty training. BUT, her thumb sucking habit is a pain in the back. It's very hard to break and I am really lost right now. What else can I do to stop this? Please help! Thank you!

Even though you are finding this difficult (which is understandable), I would still advise taking a very gentle approach with your daughter's thumb sucking.

Most children who suck their thumbs do so for comfort. If you can work out in which situations/ times of day your daughter sucks her thumb then this will help you to understand the root of the thumb sucking. For example, does she thumb suck to send herself to sleep or perhaps when she is in a new situation? Gently helping your daughter to substitute her thumb sucking for other means of comfort (e.g. holding your hand, hearing your reassuring voice shushing her to sleep, talking about why she is feeling nervous etc) will help her to transition away from the thumb sucking.

Have you come across the thumbuddy toys? I like these as I feel they are a gentle aid to reducing the thumb sucking. Each toy is a character which the child wears on their thumb to remind them not to suck it. This is particularly helpful if your child is a night-time thumb sucker. The toys also come with a book which positively reinforces why it is best your child doesn't thumb suck.

Another tip which has previously been shared on this forum about thumb sucking is to keep your child's hands and mind so busy during the day that they pretty much don't have time to thumb suck Arts and crafts are great for this as hopefully your daughter wouldn't want to suck gluey/ glittery hands anyway.

What does your daughter say when she talk to her about the thumb sucking?